Top 25 quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein

We compile the most important famous quotes of this Austrian philosopher and linguist.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Vienna, 1889 - 1951) was an Austrian mathematician, linguist, philosopher and writer. Wittgenstein's work is considered one of the most prolific and significant in the world of philosophy, mainly in the field of linguistics and communication.

One of his main essays, Tractatus logico-philosophicus, contains some of the theories that most influenced the members of the Vienna Circle.

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Famous quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein by Bertrand Russell at Trinity College, Cambridge University. His family environment favored his intellectual and cultural development, to the point of being considered by most scholars as one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century.

In this article we are going to know the best quotes by Ludwig Wittgensteins best quotes, as well as some excerpts from his books that can be considered famous quotations from the pioneer of analytical philosophy.

1. If Christianity is the truth, all philosophy about it is false.

On Western religion and its discrepancy in this respect.

2. The way you use the word "God" does not show who you think of, but what you think.

An example of how we use language in a self-referential way.

3. Wisdom has no passions. Kierkegaard calls faith, on the contrary, a passion.

On beliefs, recalling the vision of another famous philosopher.

4. What do you care about? Take care to be your best! As you are, you cannot even understand what truth might be here.

A phrase of Wittgenstein that brings us closer to self-discovery.

5. Religion says: "Do this, think like this! But it cannot substantiate it, and when it tries it repulses; for for every reason it gives, there is a solid contrary reason. More convincing would be to say, "Think thus, strange as it may seem to you." Or, "Wouldn't you want to do this?"

In this case it tells us about the argumentative fragility of religious dogmas.

6. Tell them that my life was wonderful.

Shortly before his death, Wittgenstein uttered this sentence to his doctor.

7. Philosophy is a struggle against the bewitchment of our intelligence through the use of language.

One of those philosophical quotes that can leave you thinking for hours.

8. Revolutionary will be the one who can revolutionize himself.

It is not enough to want to change the environment. The main thing is to change ourselves.

9. We feel that even when all possible scientific questions have been answered, our vital problems have not yet been touched in the least. Of course, then there is no question left; and this is precisely the answer.

An excerpt from his main work, Tractatus logico-philosophicus.

10. What cannot be spoken about must be kept silent.

Plain and simple.

11. The ineffable (that which seems mysterious to me and which I dare not express) provides perhaps the background against which what I might express acquires meaning.

We always converse from prudence, but the inexpressible sneaks into the confines of what we express between the lines.

12. That all wisdom is cold and that with it it is as difficult to order life as it is to forge cold iron.

Pure knowledge is no guarantee of happiness.

13. Wisdom is gray. On the other hand, life and religion are multicolored.

Along the lines of the famous quote above.

14. The Christian religion is only for those who need infinite help, that is, for those who feel infinite anguish.

Another of his sentences in which he questions the need to believe in a religion.

15. We feel that even when all possible scientific questions have been answered, our vital problems have not yet been touched in the least. Of course, then there is no question left; and this is precisely the answer.

Putting science before vital expression, in this famous paradox.

16. We do not realize the prodigious diversity of everyday language games because the external coating of our language makes it all seem the same.

On the complexity of communicative forms.

17. The meaning of the world must reside outside of it and, moreover, outside of meaningful language.

Another philosophical sentence by Wittgenstein in which he expounds his thought about language and existence.

18. A proposition can only say how a thing is, but not what it is.

A reflection still studied in the faculties of communication and in the field of linguistics.

19. Architecture exalts something. Therefore, where there is nothing to exalt, there can be no architecture.

Curious vision on the function of architecture.

20. The limits of my language are the limits of my world.

Perhaps Wittgenstein's most famous phrase, which summarizes a large part of his theoretical postulates.

21. Death is not an event in life. Death is not lived. If by eternity is understood not an infinite temporal duration, but timelessness, then he who lives in the present lives eternally.

Great reflection on the limits of existence.

22. Don't play with someone else's depths!

Be cautious when it comes to discovering the feelings of others.

23. Our civilization is characterized by the word "progress". Progress is its form, not one of its qualities, progress. It is typically constructive. Its activity is to build an ever more complicated product. And even clarity is at the service of this end; it is not an end in itself. For me, on the contrary, clarity, transparency, is an end in itself.

Theorizing about the development of civilization.

24. The correct method of philosophy would properly be this: to say nothing more than what can be said, that is, propositions of natural science, that is, something that has nothing to do with philosophy, and then, as often as someone wanted to say something metaphysical, to prove to him that in his propositions he had not given meaning to certain signs. This method would be unsatisfactory for him, but it would be the only strictly correct one.

In short, we need to interpret observable (natural) events in order to give meaning to everything that surrounds us.

25. Our words only express facts, just as a cup of tea can only contain the volume of water of a cup of tea no matter how much a liter is poured into it.

A great metaphor that exemplifies his vision of the linguistic medium.